Ambiguous Spaces

Friday, October 29, 2004

I Stand Accused

Why is it that the best music is difficult to like at first? I recently purchased Elvis Costello's "Get Happy" on the basis of the fact that I like Nick Lowe (who produced some of the tracks). At first, I was a little dissapointed. It's mostly blue eyed soul, circa 1980, sung by a man whose voice I had at first found grating. After several spins on the cd player, however, I'm revising my opinion. The record is great. I appreciate Costello's misanthropy and many of the tracks rock. "Riot Act," "I Stand Accused," and "Secondary Modern" are my current favorites. Best of all, the bonus disc is one of the best that I have ever seen assembled. It has live tracks, alternate versions with dramatically different tempos or instrumentations, as well as songs that didn't make the original record but should have. All in all, you get 50 tracks for about the same price as a normal CD. All of his other early work is packaged in a similar way, which is great. You get the tight mastework and the sprawling (but appealing) mess all in one.